Port Everglades partners with FEC, state of Florida to strengthen landside cargo connections

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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Port Everglades

Port Everglades in Broward County, Fla., says it is partnering with public and private entities on several multi-million-dollar landside infrastructure improvements designed to improve connections with south Florida's major highway and railroad systems.

 

“Landside congestion plagues many seaports, but Port Everglades is fortunate to have direct interstate highway access and a strong partnership with the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) and the state of Florida that keeps commerce on the move,” said Port Everglades Chief Executive and Port Director Steven Cernak in an address at the American Association of Port Authorities seminar on international trade lanes. “Our last mile projects are nearing completion and we like to boast that there is only one stop light from Port Everglades to Los Angeles.”

Most recently, the Eller Drive Overpass opened to connect the east end of I-595 directly to the port’s main entrance. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) invested $42.5 million to build the overpass, which allows vehicles entering Port Everglades to travel unimpeded over two new at-grade rail tracks that lead into the FEC’s new intermodal container transfer facility (ICTF). Construction is substantially complete and is expected to be finished this spring.

In July 2014, the FEC opened its new $72-million, 43-acre ICTF that is used to transfer both domestic containers to/from South Florida and international shipping containers between ship and rail. This near-dock facility, located on port property, replaced FEC’s previous 12-acre intermodal yard located two miles away. International cargo goes into the FEC rail yard directly from inside the port and domestic trucks have a separate entrance under the Eller Drive Overpass. Port Everglades contributed the land to the public/private partnership, FDOT awarded an $18-million grant and the state of Florida provided a $30-million State Infrastructure Bank Loan to the FEC for the project.

 

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